Tried With Fire

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:17-20.  The text concludes with this very sweet reflection, that though our hope is out of sight, we have a friend in the unseen land where our hope has found its hold. In anxious moments a sailor might almost wish that he could go with his anchor and fix it firmly. That he cannot do, but we have a friend who has gone to see to everything for us! Our anchor is within the veil—it is where we cannot see it—but Jesus is there, and our hope is inse...

From An   Exposition of Hebrews  by A.W. Pink on Hebrews 10:24 ~ "And let us consider one another:" let us diligently bear in mind and continually have in view the good of our fellow-pilgrims. The term "consider" is very emphatic, being the same as in 3:1, where we  are bidden to "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession Christ Jesus." Here it signifies conscientious care and circumspection over the spiritual estate and welfare of other Christians. They are brethren and sisters in Christ, members of the same family: a tie far nearer and dearer than any earthly one unites you to them and them to you. "Consider" not only their blessed relation to you, but also their circumstances, their trials, their temptations, their infirmities, their needs. Seek grace to be of service, of  help, of blessing to them. Remember that they have their conflicts too, their discouragements their falls: "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down a...

Our pastor preached the last sermon on Hebrews today. We have been going through the book verse by verse for a year and a half. This was my first exposure to expository preaching, and it was like water to a thirsty soul. During the service, passages from Hebrews were read interspersed with songs/hymns. At times I was moved to tears hearing the verses that had become so precious. This reading of the Word was just as much worship to the Lord as our songs and hymns. Pastor Ryan summed up the book well in describing it as a detailed description of the grace of God. Grace is God's unmerited favor, and God revealed that favor to us in the person and work of His Son, our forerunner, our high priest. From beginning to end, Hebrews is about the supremacy of Christ. In a way, I am sorry that we are done. But even though this series is over, the Holy Spirit will continue to take the Word that was deposited and work it out in our lives. Thank God for the faithful preaching of His Word.

The Painful Discipline of Our Heavenly Father , Hebrews 12: 3-11 - John Piper, August 24, 1997. From the sermon: Will you accept the mystery of God's providence in the pain of your life, and (as verse 11 says) be trained by it for the sake of good and peace and holiness and righteousness and life?

I have been fairly distrustful of feelings lately, but I am still human enough to want to feel God's love, to feel hope especially in this ongoing trial. Today was such a day. Sometimes the feelings are there, but they weren't today. What to do? Should I go looking for something to generate them? I could have surfed the Internet and found something heartwarming and sentimental to give me a warm fuzzy, like the infamous Footprints in the Sand . (Don't mean to offend anyone, but I really dislike that poem.) But is it enough for me to believe what the Word says about God and His character? Is that enough for me to bank on regardless of whether I feel it or not and whether I see it happening now or not? I keep coming back to something Pastor Ryan shared about Joseph. Joseph's faith in God was demonstrated by the fact that he asked the Israelites to take his bones back to the promised land. It wasn't a question of if. It was a question of when. Joseph did not see it i...

This afternoon, I listened to the sermon I missed last week when we were away visting family. It was a spiritual palate cleanser after the eisegetical talk we heard at my parent's church. One thing that really bothered me was when the guest speaker said that God was only nurturing us now. He no longer needed to provide us with "structure", only "nuture". Therefore, we would feel so loved that we would choose to change ourselves . In contrast, today I heard about the value of discipline. God discplines us because He loves us. We will suffer in this life, we will endure pain. But what is the prize at the end? The prize is Christ! So we run the race, encouraging one another to not give up, looking to Jesus alone - the focus of our gaze, our forerunner, our goal.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Hebrews 11:32-38 From today's sermon : 1. Faith in God does not mean release from suffering but being sustained in and through suffe...

Today's sermon was "Faithful Until Death" on Hebrews 11:13-22. I needed to hear this. I had read countless times about Joseph's request for his bones to be brought to the promised land. It never hit me until today that his very request was evidence of his faith. He believed God who would be faithful to a promise that was made to his great-grandfather. Abraham never saw the fulfillment. Neither did Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph, but that did not keep them from believing God would keep His promise regardless of whether they saw it or not . There are too many times when I question God's faithfulness to keep His promises to my shame. This is after the many times when He shown Himself mighty on my behalf. Pastor Ryan pointed out the sin of seeing a promise of God and viewing it as implausible. I am guilty of that sin of unbelief many times over. To be honest, I am tired of not having resolution on many issues. I want to go on with my life with my daughter without anymore leg...

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised . Hebrews 11:11 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Romans 4:20-25 From my notes on today's sermon: Sarah's history wasn't stellar. She had multiple failures of faith. But God by faith triumphs over past failures. This is not Sarah's story but God's story on Sarah's behalf. God triumphs over her past record but her current physical circumstance as well. Faith i...

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Hebrews 11:7 I just listened again to Sunday's sermon on the above text. Here are some statements that stood out to me. - In a world that is facing the wrath of God and judgment, our only hope is if, by God's divine work, we flee towards Christ. - Very often, fear can cause us to turn inward, looking to my own resources to make it through. That's not the kind of fear that Noah had. - The church is those who by faith cling to the ark that is Jesus Christ and consistently proclaim and herald that message to an unbelieving world. - Condemning the world means that Christ is my singular affection and I want so much a dying world to have it that I am overflowing with my desire to tell the world of the love of Jesus Christ. - Christian, if you have re...

Pastor Ryan's message was on Hebrews 10:32-39, titled Remembering as We Endure . Those early Christians knew that taking a stand for their faith meant immediate persecution. They joyfully accepted the loss of property, possessions, and lives because they found One who was the better possession and abiding one. Yet, the writer of Hebrews needed to remind them. They needed to remember this so that they would endure and not throw away their confidence. These statements stood out to me: They lost the things we cherish in our comfortable Christianity - comfort and security, being liked, material goods - three things that plague 21st century Christianity. We take perseverance lightly. We believe that it is by faith alone in Christ alone but in the back of our minds is it with the thought that I get to keep my comfort and security, too? This message was so timely because on Friday evening, I was shaken by something. It really wasn't that much, but it was enough. Almost immediately,...

From my notes on Pastor Ryan's sermon on Hebrews 10:26-31: - Those who are Christ's will not lose their salvation. - This describes those who outwardly accept the Gospel but inwardly are devoid of the Gospel. - If the Gospel of grace has taken hold of us, it will change us. - Sinning deliberately is a setting aside of the Gospel. "I am not going to change. I am not going to embrace what Christ says I need to embrace." By denying the Gospel, we stand in open judgment. - If you reject Christ, you are rejecting the only true sacrifice for sin . There is no other sacrifice. There is no other sacrifice that will avail. - It is a rejection of the Son, rejection of His work, rejection of His Spirit. Pastor Ryan used the example from Zechariah 3 of Joshua standing before the Angel of the Lord with Satan accusing him. The Angel of the Lord removes his filthy garments and clothes him in clean garments. Pastor Ryan said that a rejection of Christ would be as if we were stan...

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10: 26-31 This was the text from today's sermon . This afternoon, my daughter and I talked about the sermon for a long time. It was a very sobering message. We couldn't listen to it and not think of her dad. Although only God knows the true state of his heart...

[S]o Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him . Hebrews 9:28 Lo! He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain; Thousand thousand saints attending, Swell the triumph of His train: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God appears on earth to reign. Yea, amen! Let all adore Thee, High on Thine eternal throne; Savior, take the power and glory, Claim the kingdom for Thine own; O come quickly! O come quickly! Hallelujah! Come, Lord, come! ~John Cennick & Charles Wesley

Note : I just realized that just putting quotes up without their context will not do justice to the whole so I've tried to put the first two quotes in context. Better yet, listen to the sermon!) It has been a blessing to go through the book of Hebrews verse by verse. These quotes are from Pastor Ryan's sermon on Hebrews 9:11-20, The Blood of Jesus . They serve God to maintain their standing. We serve God because of our standing. (Our service does not give us standing with God. That is by Christ's work alone. We are enabled to serve Him as worship because of our standing in Christ.) You think something you can do can equal what Christ can do? (In regard to cleansing our consciences, His blood speaks louder than my accusing conscience.) We don't just get the stuff; We get the writer of the will. I hope the last quote makes sense. Pastor Ryan's 3rd point was that Jesus' blood seals a will, as in last will and testament. A will is not active until the one who mad...